


The Ancients... Cetra... Jenova... Sephiroth and Myself...

by Sephinova



Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Corpses, Gen, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28182429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sephinova/pseuds/Sephinova
Summary: Wide awake, Aerith lies in bed tossing and turning in the darkness of Costa Del Sol's inn. Despite her exhaustion from the long boat ride to the western continent, her mind refuses her rest plagued by troubling questions. Not even the calming lullaby of the ocean's waves nor the gentle salty sea breeze from the open window could quell her anxieties.
Kudos: 8





	The Ancients... Cetra... Jenova... Sephiroth and Myself...

**Author's Note:**

> Yay! My first Aerith centric fanfiction! ^o^
> 
> I've ALWAYS been fascinated about how Aerith must have felt about Sephiroth and Jenova being Cetras before she learnt that they weren't. I'm very disappointed that we won't get to see that more explored in ''Remake'' due to its baffling story direction. -_-

_The Ancients... Cetra... Jenova... Sephiroth and myself..._

Wide awake, Aerith lies in bed tossing and turning in the darkness of Costa Del Sol's inn. Despite her exhaustion from the long boat ride to the western continent, her mind refuses her rest plagued by troubling questions. Not even the calming lullaby of the ocean's waves nor the gentle salty sea breeze from the open window could quell her anxieties.

_What are the Ancients? Weren't they humans?_

She remembers her birth mother Ifalna, she was a kind and gentle woman. When Aerith was a young child Ifalna often told her stories about their race, the Cetra. They were people born from the Planet, possessing innate abilities to communicate with it and to cultivate the land making them the Planet's original stewards. Aerith was amazed knowing that she was part of such wondrous ancestry and she dreamed that someday she and her mother would escape Midgar to grow flowers and find The Promised Land. 

However, Ifalna told her another story, a tragic story. 

Thousands of years ago a terrible disaster struck the world which killed countless Cetra and those that survived numbers gradually declined over the years and since her mother's death, Aerith became the sole survivor...

...or so she believed. 

In Kalm, Cloud recounted a mission he was assigned to in SOLDIER five years ago in his and Tifa's hometown of Nibelhiem of the supposed death of the legendary Sephiroth had taken place. Sephiroth was driven mad with hatred by the discovery of the origins of his birth that he was an experiment created from the remains of an apparently dead 2000-year-old Ancient Shinra scientists named Jenova.

_Is Jenova really a Cetra?_

Aerith could never forget that day when she saw Jenova for the first time. She had been taken back to Shinra Headquarters after surrendering herself to Tseng in exchange for Marlene's safety, as she was escorted through the long hallways of the laboratory she noticed a metal dome-shaped specimen tank with a bright pink light glowing from its window with a plaque that had the name 'JENOVA' on its door. Curious, Aerith peered into it and immediately regretted her decision. Sickening fear paralyzed her at the horrifying sight that eternally burned itself into her memory. Its shape was that of a nude headless female humanoid, large veins protruded from under its pallid skin, red abnormal butterfly-like wings spread out from behind its back, internal organs and tentacle-like appendages floated around its body, a sapphire eyeball on its breast whose stare pierced into her as if it had uncovered every intimate facet of her very self. 

Yet what disturbed Aerith above all else was that... 

It was moving.

How was it possible for this creature or any sentient life form for that matter to still be alive without a head- a brain? She assumed it must have been one of Hojo's human experiments turned into a monster. Poor woman... Aerith couldn't imagine the unspeakable cruelty she must have suffered by the hands of that madman. But her initial horror of the sight of the creature couldn't compare to when she and her friends escaped from their prison cells and were greeted to a trail of blood and mutilated dead bodies strewn in the laboratory's hallways which led to Jenova's vault, its door completely obliterated leaving a large gaping hole. Such terrifyingly violent power that monster possessed that it took all of Aerith's will power not to vomit and breakdown in tears. She hoped that she would never have to experience a massacre ever again.

Yet her worst fears did happen again.

The distinct metallic scent of blood hung in the air of the cargo ship with corpses lying amongst large crates. An infantryman that bearly clung onto life warned them of an inhuman creature in the engine room that caused the carnage before passing away. It must have been Jenova Aerith surmised. Upon entering the engine room the killer made himself known, like a ghost he ascended through the floor his intense icy Mako gaze bore into Aerith and her group.

The son of Jenova, Sephiroth.

Before she could say a word to him he attacked and fled leaving behind a severed piece of Jenova. The tentacle transformed into a horrifying monstrosity that towered over her and retained little of its prior humanoid features. Every fibre of Aerith's being wanted nothing more than to get as far away as possible from the monstrosity it was like silent screaming begging her to run away and to never look back. Was it the scream of her instincts? The Planet's scream? Both? She couldn't tell. Regardless, Aerith stood her ground and fought with all her might because no matter how terrified she was she wouldn't dare abandon her friends.

_It's hard to believe that Jenova, Sephiroth and I share the same blood... I'm nothing like them at all..._

A chance encounter with Hojo upon her arrival at Costa Del Sol gave her the perfect opportunity to ask him about her heritage as she, Jenova and Sephiroth were his test subjects for many years surely he held the answers she so desperately seeks.

''I want you to tell me something, Professor Hojo... I know I'm an Ancient. My mother told me.'' Aerith began.

''Your mother?'' Hojo raised an eyebrow before his face lit up with intrigue. ''Oh, you mean Ifalna. How is she?''

''You didn't know!?'' She sputtered. ''She died.''

His intrigued expression dropped and slowly turned his back to her. ''......I see.''

How could he not have known about her mother's death!? The Turks had searched high and low for her and her mother when they escaped fifteen years ago. It hadn't been long before Tseng found her at her new home and he definitely would have discovered Ifalna first at the train station where she died and would have reported her death to the higher-ups at Shinra. So why didn't he know!? It didn't make sense. 

''Professor Hojo? Is Jenova an Ancient? Is Sephiroth an Ancient? Do we all have the same blood?'' Aerith pressed.

The old scientist ignored her and her friends as he mumbled under his breath about 'heading west' and sat back down on the sunbed. She demanded him for answers but he remained silent and reluctantly she gave up. 

_Why did Hojo refuse to tell me whether or not Jenova and Sephiroth are Ancients? I'm certain he knows._

Perhaps the reason why he didn't say anything was that it is the truth as Aerith knew all too well he had little patience stating what he considered 'obvious' scientific facts that didn't interest him more than once or at all for that matter.

 _If his silence is confirmation, then..._

This possible revelation went against everything that Ifalna taught her about their race. The Cetra were and are humans, they were peaceful people that had a beautiful spiritual connection with nature and the Planet. 

_Mom and I aren't monsters... there's just no way... Mom couldn't have lied to me, right...? Maybe Shinra scientists experimented on Jenova and turned her into a monster? But she was discovered with that humanoid appearance so that can't be true._

Frustrated, Aerith throws the sheets off of her, gets out of bed and draws the curtains of the window. She leans her arms on the window sill, inhales deeply and exhales gazing out to the full moon and its reflection that glittered on the sea's surface.

_What are the Cetra supposed to look and be like? Could Jenova's appearance be the Ancients true form? Is there a part of me and Sephiroth that looks like that too? And if so, would we still retain our humanity if we transform?_

Aerith's emerald eyes light up with an idea. Perhaps beyond her fearsome exterior, Jenova could still be just as human as Aerith. She wonders that, possibly, just like Sephiroth, Jenova is probably angry and hurting too. Angry at Shinra for exploiting and imprisoning her and hurting at the devastation that wiped out most the Cetra all those years ago.

_I cannot condone both of their actions but... I wonder if I can reach out to them? If I tell them that I'm a Cetra will they listen to me? Could I sway their minds from their chosen path, come to an understanding and help heal them of their animosity?_

A sad sigh escapes her. Cloud and Tifa wouldn't agree to that. Sephiroth destroyed their hometown and killed their parents, understandably, they are out for revenge and she couldn't blame them for their feelings of vengeance.

_This journey's outcome will most likely be Sephiroth's and Jenova's deaths..._

Aerith's eyes close as she leans her head atop her arms. 

_I will be partially responsible for the extinction of my race... and... I'll be all alone again... We should be helping each other not killing each other..._

Aerith clenches her fists and raises her head to the night sky her forest green eyes gleaming with determination. No matter what Sephiroth's and Jenova's plans are for The Planet and The Promised Land she promised herself to see this journey through to the very end even if it means going up against other Cetra.

Her gaze wanders to her left falling on the sleeping face of Cloud, his chest rising and falling with steady breaths. A tiny smile tugs at her lips.

_He looks so peaceful._

She worries what he, Tifa, Barret, Red XIII and Yuffie really thought about her. After the battle with Jenova, they still remained accepting and friendly towards her as always. They are the only friends she has ever felt comfortable enough to talk to about her heritage as they treated her like a normal person. 

_Could they be hiding their true feelings?_

A limb of a Cetra transforming into such a horrifyingly violent monster would plant seeds of fear in anyone, it would be natural if her friends were cautious of her. Perhaps they were keeping her around to observe and act accordingly in case she does the same.

_Would they ki-_

Aerith frantically shakes her head banishing the unbearable prospect from her mind. They are her friends! They would never do that to her! How could she think of such a thing!? They would be hurt if they knew what had just crossed her mind!

_Cloud wouldn't have come to my rescue and everyone wouldn't have supported and protected me through all our battles thus far if they thought badly of me! They care for me just as I do for them._

She's sure that if her friends love her enough they would accept her regardless of what her human or Cetra forms look like, they accepted Red XIII so why should she be any different? 

Still anxious yet a little eased, Aerith closes the curtains, gets back into bed and pulls the sheets up to her chest. So many unknowns await her on this journey about the history of her ancestry, herself, Jenova, Sephiroth and the world. But no matter how scary these truths may be or whatever hardships she will shoulder she will face them with courage.

Aerith's mind and body slowly relax and eventually, she drifts off into sweet slumber. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! :D


End file.
